Gold in them there knees... Gold threads were purposely left in a woman's knee after acupuncture treatments. Picture: New England Journal of Medicine

WHEN a 65-year-old woman went to have scans on her arthritic knees, doctors saw signs of the disease  and dozens of gold needles.

The South Korean woman had received pain-relieving injections and anti-inflammatory drugs for her condition but was still suffering from pain, researchers wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Furthermore, the treatments were causing her gastrointestinal discomfort, the researchers at the University of Rhode Island and Chonbuk National University in South Korea wrote.

So, she turned to a form of acupuncture in which gold threads are purposely left inside a person's body. The woman went for the treatment once a week, leading to the large amount of fibres in her legs.

The researchers explained: "It has been hypothesised that gold thread implanted at the acupuncture points acts as a continuous acupuncture stimulation. The insertion of small pieces of sterile gold thread around the joint by means of acupuncture needles has been used commonly in the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis in Asian countries."

But, as can be seen here, they said it can complicate matters when medical scans are needed.

A NOTE ABOUT RELEVANT ADVERTISING: We collect information about the content (including ads) you use across this site and use it to make both advertising and content more relevant to you on our network and other sites.